The best we can do is breathe and reboot...

Confession:  I'm tired of my weekly blogs that I put undue pressure on myself to do.

There.  I said it.

Gone are my weekly food review blogs.  I made it 33 weeks of making a new recipe each week and taking the time to take pictures and write about it.  And I'm exhausted.

I feel relief wash over me already just to wash my hands and be done with it.  I've got TONS of recipes that I can add to our menu each week and many more on Pinterest just waiting for me to make them.  But, for now, I'm good with what I've accomplished.

On that note, we're back to work full time this week.

Evan says, "Joy."

Both boys have transitioned really well to being back full time at daycare.  We're really excited for Nana to start watching them on Mondays next week and for my mom to start Fridays in October.  To only have them in daycare for 3 days a week and to have them spend time with each grandma is beyond words.  Sean will be moving up to preschool (ahhh!!!) right after he turns 3 in October.  He's already been visiting the preschool room a few times to see how he gels with the others and he's a natural.  Everyone at daycare just gushes over how he's fully potty trained, how smart he is, how he says the funniest things, etc.  I have to say, after a year + of negative reports of biting, it's been really nice to hear all this positive feedback.  They can keep it coming.

Evan will move to the toddler room once he meets a few more of the criteria.  He's on all table food and can walk, but still needs to move to sippy cups for his milk and take one nap.  So, since I'm not seeing either of those happen as smoothly as they did with Sean, I think he'll be in infants for another month or two.  No rush.  Let them be little, right?

With all this back to school and daycare talk, we managed to escape up north for Labor Day weekend with both sets of our parents all under one roof.  It was a really nice weekend!  The start of fall weather with cool mornings and evenings and enough sun in the afternoon to still be able to do all the water activities.

Throw in a fair with games, prizes, and a bounce house and crazy awesome sales at the outlet mall and we had one heck of a weekend.  S'mores, ice cream, blueberry pie and all.

We drove home Sunday night so that we could all be home for Evan's official first birthday on Monday.  We didn't have anything planned, for a reason.  We wanted one last summer day at home, playing toys, running around outside, ordering in pizza and breadsticks, and of course singing happy birthday with a cupcake from Just Baked.  A perfect end to our summer and a very happy birthday to my baby boy, Evan!

And we're off and running.  Another school year.  New ideas, new lesson plans, new technology, a new blog for my students, and a new schedule.  There's something to be said for getting a fresh start every September.
Now come the days where I long for the weekends full of extra snuggles with the boys, trips to the Cider Mill, and all the October birthdays and Halloween festivities.  Where sleeping until 7:30am feels like a gift from God.  The fall gives me something to look forward to after going back to work.

"I'm so glad I live in a world with Octobers." L.M. Montgomery